Steve Johnson

Anchor

I’m from Greensboro, North Carolina. In fact, my mom, dad and brother are all natives of the Tarheel state.

We moved to Huntsville when I was in the third grade, because my father got a job with the Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal.

I grew up during the heyday of the work developing America’s first missiles, and the Saturn 5 program at Marshall Space Flight Center.

One of my best memories is the way the whole town shook when they tested the Saturn 5’s main engines in the mid-60’s.

I graduated from Huntsville High School and then went to Auburn, where I majored in Journalism, with minors in speech, English, and history. After graduation, I started work in Anniston at a small TV station that no longer exists, WHMA.

In May of 1977, my family moved back to the Rocket City, and I took a job as Sports Director at what was then called Action News 19.

In late 1999 I started making the transition from sports to news at WHNT News 19. I’ve been Senior Reporter, and Special Assignment Reporter, and now I’m the co-anchor of our week day morning news.

Among other things I also do our “Leadership Perspectives” interviews that are posted on WHNT.Com every Friday, and can also seen on our Sunday morning news.

I also do our “Defending America” reports that highlight the work in the north Alabama aerospace and defense community as well as what happens on Redstone Arsenal both in defense and at Marshall Space Flight Center.

My wife Sue is the Office Manager for Retina Services of North Alabama. I have two sons. Chris works at Huntsville Hospital. My other son, Wes, is married with two sons. His family lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee and he works at Caterpillar-Financial in Nashville.

You may see me from time to time, riding my bike on the the streets, and roads of north Alabama.

I collect first edition books, and my wife and I are modest collectors of art…especially by local artists.

I may be from North Carolina, and my wife from Atlanta, but we both consider Huntsville our home town.

34.730369-86.586104

Recent Articles

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — There are threats to the United States and our allies that are obvious. North Korea for instance. The reaction from those charged with America’s missile defense is pretty straight forward. “I am very confident that the current ballistic missile system can defend the nation against the current threats,” said Lt. General Samuel Greaves, Director of the Missile Defense Agency. The threat from cyber criminals may be a little tougher to stop. It never goes away, and it […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Anyone looking for a symbol of our brave new world could easily pick a drone. The remote craft, also referred to as unmanned aircraft systems got their start with work like that done at UAH some 15 years ago. The first unmanned aircraft there was called the BASSETT. It was a large, noisy, gas-powered model helicopter. “We got into it after 9-11 because everyone was looking at security and how to protect infrastructure throughout the nation, and […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In many ways the Vietnam War was like every other war in modern times. There were dozens of battles, thousands of fire fights and countless acts of bravery by men and women like Huntsville’s Mike Rose. As a youngster he lived in California. He would finish high school and two years of college before enlisting in the Army. As a young soldier there was no way Mike could have any premonition of his ultimate military destiny. He […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — On July 8th, 2011, NASA launched the last Space Shuttle. Dave Christensen joined Greg Screws in the WHNT News 19 studio as part of our extensive coverage. “Go USA, there you go, go NASA! It was great and the whole space shuttle team did a great job and they stuck to the very end, and I’m very impressed,” said Dave Christensen. That was high praise from a man who would know a great job when he saw […]

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala — The Vietnam War has been over for some 42 years. For the millions of Americans who served in Vietnam the war might be in the history books, but in their minds it’s definitely their history. “These veterans are telling me things they haven’t shared in 30,40,50 years,” said Skip Vaughn. Sharing what the veterans have told him has become Vaughn’s passion. He’s a long time writer and editor for the Redstone Rocket, which is Redstone Arsenal’s […]

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — U.S. Army Europe has a big responsibility. “Our mission is to help deter further aggression and maintain the peace within Europe,” said Major General Timothy McGuire, the Deputy Commander for U.S. Army Europe, who spent time this week at Redstone Arsenal’s Army Materiel Command. That is a big responsibility, since the 300 thousand soldiers of cold war days, down to some 30 thousand today. The job though, is the same. “So our mantra is to make […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala –When you talk about Army aviation you are mostly discussing the Army’s fleet of helicopters. At Redstone Arsenal the Program Executive Office for Aviation is all about making those helicopters the best they can be. Rob Grigsby, the President of Huntsville’s Advanced Aerospace Tooling Inc. used to work there. “One of the issues we had was the weight of the aircraft, and so we were always looking for new materials that could displace current materials that were heavy,” […]

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Soldiers in every era need the same thing, good intelligence about their battlefield and about the enemy. Getting that intelligence now is why the Army has developed a whole series of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. To be successful, soldiers need to know, “The enemy will not know when this is overhead, and therefore they cannot adjust what they are doing knowing that a sensor system is nearby,” said Chip Hardy, the Kestrel Eye Program Manager for the […]

HUNTSVILLE, AL–There was a lot to see at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. All sorts of technology on display and enough scale models to outfit a museum. There was also one very special full-sized, multi-ton Armored Army vehicle. “Short range aircraft defense is one of the top Army needs of the day,” said Jim Leary of Boeing. Answering the need is the reason for that special vehicle. Boeing took its Avenger Air Defense Missile launch system and General Dynamics […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — There was only room left for standing on Wednesday morning at the Von Braun Center South Hall. Attendees of the SMD Symposium were eager to hear experts speak on the threats facing the nation, and the capabilities to answer those threats. The Director of the Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. General Samuel Greaves, took the stage while the hundreds of people in the room digested the idea of North Korea’s missile tests. General Greaves had something specific to […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Here’s a bit of Alabama history for you. In 1880, state wineries produced some 423,000 gallons of wine. That’s enough wine to make the state the 8th largest producer in the country. Unfortunately prohibition completely dried up Alabama’s wine industry. In 1979, the Perdido Vineyard near Mobile was a new beginning. Now there are 17 wineries in the state and another dozen brewers of cider and mead (a wine made from honey) to turn out more than […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – At the Space and Missile Defense Symposium there are speakers and panel discussions, and exhibits of cutting edge technology. All of it geared toward a theme that boils down to a nation, and a defense industry that has to be ready for anything. In fact, that’s the official theme for this 20th edition of the Symposium, “Enabling Decisive Action in a Multi-Domain Environment.” Eric Blades works with ATA Engineering and puts it simply. “Our country is under […]